Carrot Cake with Lime Glaze is a twist on the classic carrot cake without the heavy cream cheese buttercream frosting. Don’t get me wrong, I adore buttercream. But there is a place at the table for lighter cakes too. Love the cake, just change the frosting!
My sister in law reminded me how delicious an extra-carrot-y carrot cake could be when I had dinner at her house a few weeks ago. Crunchy and sweet, grated carrots make an incredible garnish. Move over coconut! I think I have found my new favorite cake topping!
Making Mini-Cakes
I have a mini-bundt cake mold that I like to use when making Carrot Cake with Lime Glaze. Like oversized cupcakes, you can choose to share this dessert…or not. Unfortunately, this mold is no longer available on the market, but I found another one that is similar.
If you choose to make the mini-bundt cakes like I did, you will have to adjust your baking time to suit the size mold you purchased. My mold yielded about 9 mini-bundt cakes which required baking them in two batches (my mold only makes 6 cakes at a time.) The baking time was around 25 minutes. Simply add 5-10 minutes of baking time based on the size of your mold and then test with a toothpick. Once the toothpick comes out clean, write down the baking time for your mini-mold for use on your next recipe. Also, there may be instructions for baking times included with the pan, so keep an eye out.
Carrot Cake in Fancy Molds
One final note – if you choose to use a fancier mold for this cake make sure you use a spray food release like Pam or Baker’s Joy. Detailed molds can prove tricky when removing the cake. The less sticky the pan, the better your cake will turn out. This goes for non-stick cake pans too.
I will be making Carrot Cake with Lime Glaze for this Father’s Day, not only because he likes it, but so does the rest of the family. The lighter lime-flavored glaze makes it an easy take along for picnics especially in the summertime.
Carrot Cake with Lime Glaze
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 16–24 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: US
Ingredients
Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
2 tsp. baking powder (8g)
1 ½ tsp. baking soda (9g)
1 tsp. salt (4g)
2 tsp. cinnamon (3g)
1 ½ cups sugar (300g)
1 ½ cups vegetable oil (375ml)
4 eggs
2 cups grated carrots (100g)
8 ½ oz can crushed pineapple in juice, drained (250g)
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (50g)
Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar (187g)
1 tsp. lime zest (2g)
1–2 tsp. fresh lime juice (5ml-10ml)
Freshly grated carrot for garnish
Instructions
Grease and flour a 12 cup (3lt) bundt cake pan or prepare 24 cupcake molds by lining them with cupcake liners. Heat your oven to 350°F (176°C).
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the mixing bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the sugar. Start the mixer on a slow speed and pour in the vegetable oil. Add the eggs, carrots, and crushed pineapple, stirring with the mixer until well combined. Remove the cake batter from the mixer and stir in the nuts. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pans.
Bake for 60-70 minutes for a bundt cake or 15-20 minutes for cupcakes. Cakes are ready when toothpick comes out clean when tested at center of cake. Allow bundt cake or cupcakes to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan (leave cupcake liners on cupcakes). Cool the cake/cupcakes on a wire rack until completely cool, at least 1 hour.
Make the glaze by combining the powdered sugar, lime zest and 1 tsp. (5ml) of the lime juice. Add the remaining teaspoon of lime juice (5ml) and stir so that the glaze remains thick but still thin enough to pour. You may need to adjust the amount of lime juice added to get the consistency you want.
Drizzle the glaze over the cake/cupcakes. Garnish with freshly grated carrots.
Notes
You can make mini-bundt cakes if you have a mold for them. However, the baking time will have to be adjusted based on the size of your cake mold. Regular cupcakes take between 15-20 minutes to bake, so larger molds would take longer. Simply adjust your time by 5-10 increments based on the size of your mold. The mini-cakes that I made took 25-30 minutes to bake.
Just like cupcakes, the tops of mini-cakes will puff and arch, but this might thwart your efforts for a beautiful presentation when you invert and serve your cakes. I trimmed the bottoms of the cake so they would lay flat on the serving plate. You can sample the trimmings, which is a bonus!
Great Father’s Day idea! I haven’t done a carrot cake in ages. Love the zesty lime glaze too.
Thank you! I hope your family enjoys it! Hugs, MG